Ursa's Butler
by M.Shelley
Summary: Joan was left by her own mother when Ursa had found her. But the girl is far more as it seems caused by a certain demon being her father. Zuko x OC later on, I hope you enjoy the story. Please Review! Rated M just to be sure...
1. Chapter 1

_In the Fire Nation_

After five years of search there was still no sign of his mother. Zuko was almost ready to give up and just admit that she probably be dead when Aang stormed into his palace.

The monk ran up to him jumping from one side to the other. He looked curious. "What is it , Aang?", the Fire Lord asked. Aang gasped for air and then said as fast as he could, "I had a little bit of free time so I contacted the spirits and they told me where we can find your mother.". Zuko just stood and stared at the little monk. Then he grabbed his shoulders and asked, "Where?".

 _Somewhere in Scotland, Great Britain, 1892_

She heard a noise in the garden. Nothing unusual for normal ears, but hers were more refined than that of the most humans. She chuckled a little, humans. Indeed she was none, thanks to her father.

Silently as a cat she dressed in her usual tight suit and left the house unnoticed, she did not want to disturb either the people she protected nor the unfortunate beings outside. She saw them laying in the field, at least twenty men with weapons, waiting for the people inside to come out of the house. One of them had readied his gun, that was the noise she had heard.

For a brief moment her eyes glowed, it always angered her when people showed up wanting to hurt the nicest woman she ever knew.

All of sudden she attacked them. Kicking and punching she broke bones and necks as well. She would have no mercy for them, if she had they would probably come back and try again, this way she kept the number of attackers at a small average. As she was finished she buried them in the at place, these field were perfect for this kind of needs.

She saw the sun glowing at the horizon when she went back into the house. Just as she got out of her jacket a tiny voice was heard from behind, "Good morning, Jo. You are up early.", she turned and saw a nine-years-old rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"Hello, Lynnie. You're pretty early too, do you want breakfast?"

"Hmhm."

They both went straight into the kitchen where Lynn sat own on the table and Joan putted on an apron. She playfully held a spoon high into the air, "What do you want, little one?"

"Don't call me that!"

"I think pancakes are great. Give me ten minutes."

With perfection and grace she made the dough and cooked up the pancakes. In a last step she dropped them at three plates and gave each one an individual flavor, chocolate for Lynn, blueberries for herself and honey for Lady Ursa, whenever she liked to join them. Lynn's amber eyes glowed golden when she saw the chocolate sauce and she licked her lips, what caused Joan to giggle and almost drop the plate.

"You're a butler, you're not supposed to laugh at me.", the little girl growled, which caused the twenty-years-old to laugh loudly. "I'm half a demon, you are not supposed to judge my actions little one.", she stated. The child knew about her nature as well as Ursa, she had not even tried to lie to the woman who had saved her and the little one grew up with it, but they as well understood that it was necessary not to let anyone else know. Some people did not react that great when they knew about her, up first front her father's master followed by her mother.

She only barely remembered the woman who had born her. From her father she knew that her mother had been a nun, she was called Martha Simmons, but she knew as well that the woman had left her as soon as she knew what she was, what her father was.

Then there was only pain and hunger in her memory. Until Lady Ursa had found her. She would do anything to keep her safe.


	2. Chapter 2

_Author's Note: Even if it should be in vain, I'll continue this story._

 _Ursa's house, Scotland 1892_

Joan was sitting outside of the house on a large rock. She continued looking on the horizon when she heard small steps approaching.

The young girl looked up to her seemingly waiting for something. As Joan didn't move Lynn tried to climb the rock but failed miserably only inches above the ground. She landed in a sitting position with a small, "Ouch".

Questioningly Joan looked down on her, raising one eyebrow, as if to scold her. Lynn pouted and still sat on the ground when she heard Joan sigh. The female butler climbed down and kneed before her, "Hey, Lynnie. What is it?", she asked.

"I'm not four years old, you know?"

"I noticed that, you're a big, nine years old lady," , she patted the child's head, "So, what business brings you out here?"

"I was bored. So I went to Mum, but Mum's busy packing things. By the way, aren't you supposed to pack her things? I think you're the butler here, aren't you? Why is she even going? And why aren't we?", she was only stopped by a half-demon finger closing her mouth.

"Your Mum always wants to pack for herself, you know? I offered her my help, offered to accompany her, but she insisted in leaving us two here. Queen Victoria said, she didn't have to bring us, that she would be well protected in London and we shouldn't worry, Granma has some important things to tell your Mum, whatever it is."

"Why are you always calling Queen Victoria Granma?"

"Well, I never happened to know my own grandmothers and the old lady is called the grandmother of Europe, so I take her instead.", the butler said happily, "but don't you ever tell her, she can be a pretty mighty foe if you anger her.", they both sat in silence for a while as Joan changed the topic, "If you're that bored we can continue our lessons.", she said, smiling down with her father's demonic grin on her lips.

Lynn shrieked back, "No, please," she wined, "You already want to intensify them while Mum's in London, you can't be that cruel."

 _Eastern Airtemple_

"The spirits really told you so?", Zuko asked Aang. "Yep" the young monk answered happily. "You're sure that will work?", "Pretty sure, yes."

"Why is my presence here necessary?", Azula asked, looking down on her chains.

"That's exactly what I want to know too.", Ozai added, he too, was in chains.

Tired of all the questions Aang just moved a few statues out of the way and mentioned for them to come over. "You stand there, there and there.", He gestured towards three circles, then stepped in the fourth and explained, "The spirits told me, in earlier times there was a huge portal for any amount of beings to change between the worlds, but since it required a huge power source which was destroyed a few hundred years ago, we have to use this smaller portals. For these the Avatar state will be enough.

"And how exactly should mother have..." Azula trailed off as she saw Aangs glare. "Your mother is Avatar Roku's granddaughter. While I was still in the iceberg his spirit had enough power to do so. And if you all would stay silent for a minute now.", the young Avatar spoke and turned into the Avatar state.


	3. Chapter 3

_Scotland 1892_

Joan was a little more nervous than usual. Lady Ursa was now in London for over a week, it would only be a few days without her and nothing had happened so far but the half demon feared it wouldn't stay that peaceful. She cleaned the dishes of her and Lynn's lunch like she was defusing a bomb.

Lynn went up to her and asked, "Joanie, am I allowed to play outside?", "Did you finish your homework?", of course, even if she had, Joan would come with her. Lynn slowly turned around and quietly said "No." while she returned to her homework.

Joan felt sorry for the little girl. A normal childhood would never be allowed to her, too much danger. Then again, what was a normal childhood? Hers had been pretty awful, so the girl was in almost every case having a better childhood than the half demon herself. Besides, the homework was not really much, just translating something from English into the scribing system of her origin, it would be pretty useful should she ever return to the Fire Nation.

There it was again, something in the air, danger. But she did not know where it came from. She heard nothing, saw nothing, but something was out there. Then there was this aura, just for a second. A lot of energy ran over everything, to Joan it had a distinct flavor, light, spicy and far more down to earth than her usual surrounding. Joan concentrated on the fading wave to find it's center. There it was, just a few kilometers out in the wood. Should she go check it out? It was probably the source of danger that made her nervous all day, or something different and she'd just lure it to their house. And what if another danger came by as she was gone?

A few seconds later she stormed into the study where Lynn was doing her homework without any motivation. She grabbed the girl by her shoulders and silently shove her into the old secret tunnel that led towards the wood. It had been used by catholic priests a few hundred years ago. Standing in the door frame she told Lynn, "You're staying here. I saw something strange and go check it out. You come out only when open the door for you. If anyone else opens it, you run as fast as you can. Go over here, if someone shoots around you're far more likely to stay healthy if you stand here.", she pointed at a place just next to the entrance, but behind the thick stone wall of the tunnel. As she saw that the girl was frightened she bent down and patted her head, "It won't be for long. Don't you worry,", she added with an honest smile, "I'll protect you.". Afterwards she closed the secret door and ensured that it was indeed locked.

Joan ran into the woods as fast as she could, a lot faster than a normal human. Being careful did not matter, being fast was far more important. Soon she saw the source of energy. A boy sat there, probably sixteen or seventeen years old, tattooed from his head to his toes. The pose reminded her of some statues of Buddha she saw once in London. His eyes and tattoos glowed in a strange white light. Around him stood three other figures. They seemed to sleep in an unnaturally daze.

Wondering about the whole scene Joan stepped into their group. Hesitantly she touched the boys' shoulder. All of sudden he stopped to glow, the others fell to the ground. The boy turned to her with sleepy eyes. As he got aware of the fact that he did not know her at all he jumped back with a loud yelp. Joan for her part straightened up and looked at him questioningly, her hands on her hips, "Who are you?", it took a few moments for him to recover his ability to speak, until then, the others were moving, Joan noticed that two of them wore chains. She was almost ready to fight them when the boy spoke up, "My name is Aang and I'm the avatar. We're searching for a woman called Ursa, have you seen her?". That took her off guard, "Why do you search for her?", one of the figures stood up, the unchained one. He was even taller than her, "Because she's my mother and she vanished ten years ago, that's why we search for her."

Joan did not know much about Ursa's past. She did not ask. She only knew that she once was married with someone mighty from the Fire Nation, that she had children, but had to leave them, not knowing she was carrying another one. Oh, and that someone, even Ursa did not know who exactly, set out a bounty on her head, on her dead head, to be precise. It was pretty possible that her family would come for her after all that time. So she decided to not fight them, for the moment.

"My name is Joan Michaelis", she said, bowing slightly like her father had told her, "I happen to be Lady Ursa's butler. Unfortunately, she's currently staying in Buckingham Palace, but will return in a few days. Why don't you stay at her house so long?", she pointed over to the house, "Just walk this direction for half an hour. I can't accompany you, but I'll await you there, if that's alright with you.".

It was visible that this was a little too much information for her sudden visitors so short after the travel between two worlds, but she had no time to wait for their response. Joan turned on a heel and hurried back. Lynn was without protection right now, and there was still danger in the air.


End file.
